Nora Koerner MacDonald

A colleague recently forwarded this New York Times article to me about job growth in the nonprofit sector; it seems as though things are starting to look up. As the manager of Americans for the Arts Job Bank since its re-launch in 2007, I have also seen growth in the number of nonprofit arts job postings this year compared to the past couple of years.

In 2009 we ended the year with 160 thirty-day job postings, and as of October 31 of this year we have already had 25% more job postings.   It seems organizations are hiring again, which is good news, especially for the nearly 17,000 registered job seekers on our site.   In 2009 the Job Bank saw a nearly 200% increase in job seekers from 2008 and almost 150% up from that in 2010.  Clearly there is a need and many people have been looking for work for quite a while.

I’m curious to hear, if you have worked at an organization that had layoffs, do you feel more confident in its financial stability now that the recession is “over”?   Or, perhaps you are now experiencing the opposite, and your organization decided to expand and hire for brand new positions?   Do you feel a new confidence in the decisions that are being made and frugality in how money is spent?

Even though we are on the road to recovery, the economy still feels somewhat uncertain.  I know I find myself still holding on to more of my money and not wanting to go out and make a lot of purchases.   I think there are many job seekers out there that would love to hear your answers and, hopefully, give them some positive news as the holiday season and the new year approaches.